and go to "Manage Layout" from the Blogger Dashboard??3. Click on the "Edit HTML" tab.??4. Delete the code already in the "Edit Template" box and paste the new code in.??5. Click "S BLOGGER TEMPLATES AND TWITTER BACKGROUNDS?

Friday, October 23, 2009

The government has made public a shocking report on sexual abuse of Penan girls and women by logging camp workers in Baram, Sarawak.Women, Family and Community Development Minister Shahrizat Abdul Jalil yielded to pressure from civil society groups to investigate the claims.The report was handed over to PKR women’s chief Zuraida Kamaruddin on Sept 8, almost a year after media accounts of rape of Penan girls by loggers first appeared.The report lists at least eight cases of sexual abuse of Penan girls and women by logging camp workers. The report said several of the victims were schoolgirls as young as 10.Local NGOs claim these documented cases were only a small fraction of the total number of cases of sexual abuse.The ministry’s National Task Force was commissioned by the cabinet on Oct 8 last year, to investigate the claims.The ministry’s team visited Long Item, Long Kawi, Long Luteng, Long Belok, Kampung Ugos, Jambatan Suai, Niah between Nov 10 and 15 last year.Shahrizat’s predecessor, Ng Yen Yen, had promised a transparent investigation. The team was led by director-general of the Department of Women’s Development, Dr Noorul Ainor Mohd Nor.The team was made up of several federal ministries, Sarawak government agencies and NGOs, Women’s Aid Organisation and Women’s Centre for Change, Penang.The team concluded that “allegations of sexual abuse of Penan girls and women by outsiders dealing with the Penan, including logging company workers and merchants, did indeed take place”.The protracted delay in releasing the report opened Shahrizat to accusations of trying to cover up the scandal which displeased powerful logging companies in Sarawak.Shahrizat (right) had previously refused to comment on the delay and instead invited “interested parties” to view the report at her ministry’s office in Putrajaya.